Christ Alone

 December 23, 2020

2 Kings tells the stories of the various kings of Israel and Judah in the roughly 400 years between the unified kingdom under David and Solomon and the Babylonian Exile in the sixth century BC. The northern kingdom of Israel had not a single king the chronologies considered good—faithful to the LORD. The southern kingdom had a mixture of good and bad. Ahaz ruled over the southern kingdom of Judah, but was one of the bad guys; if he had been a cowboy, he was the one with the black hat.

The interesting thing about Ahaz was that he is recorded as worshipping Yahweh, the LORD, yet was still considered a bad and unfaithful king. 2 Kings 16 tells his story: his sin wasn’t that he abandoned or opposed the LORD; it was that he was covering all his bases by worshipping  other gods as well, effectively reducing the Almighty to merely one in a pantheon of gods. He wasn’t, as they say, taking any chances, but playing it safe is rarely a godly quality, and it wasn’t here. 

I wonder how many times I’ve added other loyalties to my loyalty to Jesus Christ? The Christmas season offers a way of testing this. Recently, I read the post of a Christian who admitted she didn’t feel very “Christmasy” this year. I understand the sentiment, but it makes me wonder, has Jesus become just another quaint tradition? If he is, as we like to say, “the Reason for the Season,” why would it matter if we can’t observe Christmas as we have traditionally done? He hasn’t changed, hasn’t abandoned us perhaps much of our “Christmasy” feeling has little to do with Jesus Christ himself. If circumstances can spoil Christmas, perhaps I’ve already lost what it’s all about. 

For me, it’s a time to do some heartfelt soul-searching. As always, I am grateful for the Scriptures which challenge me. The Bible is often not very comforting, if by the word we mean soothing. It is however comforting in the genuine sense of the word—“with strength”—stiffening the spine and toughening the soul to be able to receive the Christ Child not as a cuddly baby, but as the Lord of my life. This Christmas gives me the opportunity as never before to worship Christ alone, with no other gods before me.